Clarkmas
by emzily
Summary: What if Clark went to the future in Lexmas and found himself married to his best friend and not the love of his life? Who seems incredibly happy with this enemy... my version of Lexmas with very Chlark twist, no bashing of other characters -
1. Chapter 1

This is my first Smallville fanfic, i hope you enjoy. Im definately a chlark shipper but i dont rag on anyone else all the characters will be hopefully treated well. This paralells Lexmas but from a Clark going into the future perspective not lex, oh and im assuming that Clark and Chloe are together in the Lexmas future though some people dont... Please let me know what you think;)

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"Chloe Christmas is a time for relaxing, raking in the presents and getting drunk and acting slutty at office parties," Lois sighed as she gazed up at all the presents wrapped in the basement of the Daily Planet. "It is _not_ about giving, and humanitarianism and all that other stuff Santa peddles…"

"Ha ha," Chloe she raised her eyebrow at her cousin as she finished wrapping another present, "I got dumped with this job and I'm going to beat the last person who did it, and don't worry I still plan to act slutty at the Christmas party," she grinned.

"Well thank god for that," Lois sighed and tied a bow around the present Chloe had just finished wrapping. "But you will still be making it to the Kent Christmas party right? Because I can't promise you any leftover Martha Kent cookies tomorrow, you've got to get in while the getting's good with these things."

Chloe sighed and looked up at the mountain of gifts she'd managed to talk her way into acquiring. There was no way at all she was going to get rid of all these in one night, after all the closest thing to Santa she could think of was at his Kansas farm helping his girlfriend through her first Christmas alone. She couldn't drag him away from that could she? And unfortunately as much as she loved her sarcastic cousin, she couldn't run faster than a speeding bullet. If only she knew Santa, her life would be so much easier.

Lois glanced towards Chloe's desk as her phone started to ring, "An obituary submission on Christmas eve? How depressing," Lois ignored the phone and looked to her cousin, "Bags not."

Groaning Chloe got up to answer the phone, "Miss Sullivan?" the hoarse voice asked.

"Speaking," she frowned.

"I've got a tip you'll love…"

"All tips are welcome here at the Daily Planet," Chloe spoke out her rehearsed answer without even acknowledging the uncomfortable feeling the voice inspired.

"It's going to cost you…"

Chloe frowned again and raised an eyebrow at her cousin, "Cost me?" she repeated slightly more interested.

"I want 100 in cash placed by the rubbish bin outside the Daily Planet in five minutes," the voice spoke almost greedily.

Chloe choked back a laugh and signalled to Lois the amount, "Sure it can be done, but I'd like some details before I give you any many – afterall how can I be sure its worth that much?"

The voice seemed to barely contain its glee as it whispered "It involves a young Luther, a fancy car, and what's going to happen to him when he steps out of his meeting in the slums…"

Chloe's eyes widened, "Five minutes it is."

Five minutes later a junkie from the slums was 100 richer, and Chloe Sullivan was debating with her Christmas spirit. "What's the dirt cuz?" Lois asked slipping up behind her standing outside the Daily Planet staring up at the sky.

Chloe sighed, "Pondering with the meaning of life."

"To live or not to live? Like that sort of thing?" Lois asked confused as she has only just managed to catch up with her cousin after she pulled a Clark Kent and disappeared in a flash.

"Pretty much," Chloe frowned, shook her head a little and pulled out her cell-phone, "Who am I kidding?" she asked herself quietly and marched back into the Daily Planet, pressing speed dial one.

Lois was racing up behind her trying to grab her cousins flagging attention, "Chlo what the hell? What was the emergency? Share with the investigative impaired."

Chloe turned suddenly and smiled weakly at her cousin, "He was just a junkie telling me what I already know about a certain young Luther, bad news yadda yadda yadda, playing filthy in the election yadda yadda yadda."

Lois groaned and looked through the basement door at the mountain of gifts again, "But I uh…" Lois gave Chloe a shifty eyed look and glanced at her watch, "I promised Smallville I'd make it back in time for the Miracle on 34th St…" At Chloe's raised eyebrow Lois shrugged and grinned, "Who'd have thought he'd have an affinity to the Jolly Fat man in a gorgeous red costume?"

Chloe smiled as Lois kissed her on the cheek and quickly gathered up her stuff, "Well, I guess I'll catch up with you for the end credits."

"One can only hope," Lois waved goodbye and quickly made it out of the newsroom.

Chloe pressed send on her speed dial and held the phone up to her ear, "Clark?" she asked quickly when she heard him answer, "We've got a problem…"


	2. Chapter 3

Hey guys thanks for the reviews, they are very much appreciated - please feel free to drop me a note and let me know what you think. I love Chlark, but they aren't mine, if they were...they'd get a chance.

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"Can't it wait?" Clark asked smiling at Lana as she crossed the room.

"Time to switch to SuperClark," Chloe responded looking sadly up at all her presents.

Clark sighed, looking over at his parents and his girlfriend as they grinned over stolen cookies, "I'm sorry I think you've got the wrong number, there's no SuperClark here. You know what Chlo? I'm on a break tonight." He decided as he crouched down and rearranged some of the presents under the tree.

"Give me a break from your happy fest Clark, 'cause if you aren't helping I'm going it alone," Chloe replied a little more harshly than she intended, and sighed helplessly into the phone to signal her apology.

"You're not doing anything by yourself Chloe," Clark responded glaring into the phone.

"You know," Chloe smiled at his answer and picked up her keys and walking out of the Daily Planet towards her car, "I survived long before Clark Kent came into my life and I'll survive long after he's gone."

Clarks glare intensified for a second at that comment and then subsided completely as he heard her smile, "What's up?"

"Someone's planning a murder, and although you're going to love the victim I'm appealing to your Superhero morals," Chloe ventured carefully.

"Love the victim?" Chloe's innuendos often flew right by him.

"Lex Luther," Chloe answered immediately, and turned to see her friend blur in.

"Someone's planning to set up Lex, they're luring him down to the slums to steal his car and get him killed. He inspires such loyalty from the lower classes doesn't he?" Chloe finished on a sad smile and looked up helplessly at Clark as she dropped her keys back in her pocket, she knew that once he heard the sounds of her outside he'd come. His insane need to protect everyone, even her, when she'd proved time and time again that she could save herself – and even him sometimes, often inspired a sense of predictability in her otherwise erratic best friend. Her breath caught a little, just like every other time she'd looked up to find him looming over her with that frown. She'd decided a long time ago that it was best to be on the right side of that frown than the wrong one, and plus it always gave her a teeny tiny thrill when he appeared out of nowhere at her side to save the day. They were a good team, the best team.

Clark was waving his hand in front of her face trying to get her attention back to the living, "Chlo?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she grinned sheepishly, "Did you say something?"

"Only something small about where I can find Lex, save his life, and then get back in time for cookies?"

Chloe laughed reluctantly then put on her serious pants (figuratively of course), and walked purposefully back into the Planet to plan the rescue of their least favourite person, but stopped abruptly as Clark didn't start to follow her, "What's up Clark? Let's get to planning…"

"We don't have to plan for this," Clark shrugged, "I turn up I save the day – again, then I get back to Lana."

"Well gee Clark, don't let me hold you back, you go right on ahead, I'll just come in and pick up the pieces later shall I?" Clark looked steadily at her and raised an eyebrow, "Ok I'm sorry," she sighed. "You go save him and I'll figure out a way to get these presents out before tomorrow morning," Her last words fell on no ears as Clark was gone before they left her mouth. A handy trick that.

She walked back into her office and stared slightly begrudgingly now at the presents she'd compiled and shook her head, she was in for a very long night, she wished helplessly that her cousin and her best friend were slightly more helpful than they were. Don't get her wrong, she didn't mind the strong-will of her family or the hero complex of her friends, but every once in a while spending helping her out just because they could or spending a little more time with her when it wasn't saving the world or Lana related may go along way in her overall appreciation of them lately.

She felt a little in the back pocket of everyone lately, just being pulled out when needed for advice, help or plain old complaining to. She didn't even have a Christmas tree of her own yet, and she didn't have time to get one either – she was mad at herself because she had always thought the best part of Christmas was the tree, how could she have not have gotten one this year? This Christmas was going alright so far despite the tree, the presents, the Kent party and getting a small break from Jimmy – whom of course she loved dearly but got a little annoying sometimes. Chloe shook her head to squash the little brother feeling she sometimes got when she thought of him, he was _not_ her little brother, he was her boyfriend.

Though sadly, why did she have to keep squashing that feeling, it shouldn't be there right?


	3. Chapter 2

Thanks heaps for the reviews so far, unfortunatly im not going to be updating so speedily from now on, i was procrastinating today, but other than that i do plan on updating soon - firmly and very encouraged by reviews...hint hint...annnnywho.

They're not mine so I disclaim any ownage - this is my story but the smallville creators can borow it if they want...;)

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Clark arrived just as Lex disappeared into an old building; he moved into an alleyway and used his super-hearing to listen in on Lex's conversation. Setting up his Dad? He was supposed to save the life of a man that was setting up his Dad to lose an election he only wants to win to get himself out of Daddy's shadow? Was life _ever_ fair?

Clark turned as he head as he heard another sound near him, people whispering to each other further down the alleyway from him.

"Did you get the money?" a female voice asked quietly of her companion.

"Of course," a second voice hissed in answer, "That little blonde reporter was alright; her eyebrows nearly rose into her hair when I told her the plan."

Clark frowned and moved closer into the wall for better cover, these were the guys that had called Chloe? Not good.

"Very good, we've got enough to disappear now, that girl, Griff and the Luther's have no idea how they paid for our trip to Star City." The first voice which Clark recognised to be a female one, chuckled quietly as she cocked her gun, as they moved towards Clark's end of the alleyway and closer to the street, Clark moved out of the shadows to stand in their way.

"Not going to happen," he warned holding his hands up in a placatory gesture, while simultaneously getting a sick feeling and stumbling a little.

"Trying to stop us, unarmed, and sick?" The woman asked as she walked closer not noticing the bracelet on her wrist glowing an odd green colour as she started to circle the tall, handsome man in front of her. "Not the smartest do-gooder I ever did meet," she grinned evilly.

It took all his strength just to stand up and look slightly staunch but he couldn't back away as the wall was right behind him and he couldn't really ask her to go away. Regretting his hasty departure from Chloe's planning session, he listened carefully for Lex's voice and could still here him arguing with the man he was meeting, something about if Lionel found out about the meeting…

He wasn't sure but he knew this situation was going down hill faster than he could figure out how to fix it. The man pulled out his gun and looked at Clark in an assessing way, "It's not good manners to kick a man while he's down is it Julie?"

Julie looked at her partner in crime and shrugged, "Probably not, but that's never stopped us before…"

"Good point," He chuckled and shot three shots in quick succession. Not the best shot in the world he managed to miss the vital parts of the man's body with the two shots that hit him and accidentally grazed Julie's arm in the process. "Oh, baby I'm sorry…"

Julie glared up at him as she moved quickly to check her arm where she'd been hit, not noticing her bracelet drop from her wrist as she did…and land next to Clark who by this point was on the ground. Due to the kryptonite in the bracelet Clark's wounds were a hundred times more severe than usual – they actually hit him. He was bleeding. And he had no hero…

Chloe looked up as a man dressed like Santa walked through the basement door of the Daily Planet and up at all the presents that she had collected. "These all for you young lady?"

Chloe grinned and shrugged, "What can I say? I'm greedier than I look."

Santa chuckled and moved into the room spreading his arms wide, "I don't know about that, it seems I've found what I've been looking for…"

Chloe eyed him suspiciously, "Who needs elves when you've got Chloe Sullivan right?"

Santa shook his head smiling, "Christmas spirit," he corrected gently.

"Look 'santa'," Chloe began making the bunny ear symbol around his alias name, "If you're planning on stealing these gifts I may not be able to stop you the first time but there's thousands here and I sure will have enough time to ring the police after you take the first load," she warned still with a smile on her face. Plus she could call Clark, and he could add his own little brand of justice.

"Not stealing," he smiled running his hands across the ribbon on one present, "I want to help you distribute these. I'm here to lend a hand if you want it."

Chloe's eyes widened but she still regarded sceptically, "And you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart..?"

He chuckled, his belly bounced and everything, she even might have heard a few 'Ho's'…

"Listen I'm offering you some help," he began, "I'm extremely amazed at the goodness of your heart Miss Sullivan, and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't try and support an extremely good deed, in an extremely questionable time."

Chloe considered this for one more moment then shrugged, "What's Christmas without a little trust," she walked over to her dossier that had mailing instructions, "The houses are in order from east to…" He was gone, she turned…and so were the presents. Either he was Clark's grandpa or…

She smiled, Clark was going to love this.


	4. Chapter 4

I was definately encouragew by the reviews and they were much appreciated, thanks to kashvi5722, who was quite correct Jimmy didn't exist in season 5 when this was set - my bad! let's just pretend he was mkay?? But again, i really do appreciate the reviews so keep 'em coming!!

Again, i love Chlark so here is some Chlarky goodness, i don't own any smallville anything, but once again if the writers of the programme wanna borrow my plot they can feel free!!

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Feeling the warmth of the sun on his face as he turned over on his bed Clark sighed deeply as he opened his eyes slowly and blinked at his unfamiliar surroundings. He looked up at the foreign window that was never opposite his bed before with its muslin curtains swaying in the slight chilly breeze that was making it through the gap despite the warmth of the sun. He felt a movement behind him and smiled thinking that Lana had forgotten to make her way home last night to prevent another embarrassing moment with his parents. Oh well, he grinned as he twisted over to gaze at her beautiful face which was usually – if possible – more beautiful when she was just waking up…

And found an oddly familiar but un-Lana-like shape buried beneath the duvet next to him. Sitting up suddenly he looked at his surroundings again, unknown windows weren't the only new thing in his bedroom, try unknown bed, unknown nightstand and much larger unknown room to that checklist.

At his sudden movement the body beside him began to stir, afraid of what he might find buried within this comfortable bed and trying to remember if he had been anywhere near red kryptonite, he slowly crept out of bed embarrassed to discover he was only in a pair of red boxer briefs and couldn't see any clothes lying around. This was soooo not good.

All at once the person in the bed sat up disgruntled, and a small dark headed boy of about four strolled into the room clutching a teddy tightly in one fist and a blanket trailing behind him held loosely by his other hand which was rubbing at his eyes. Clark's eyes swung from the child to Chloe in ht strange bed and back a few times before Chloe watching him closely raised a white blonde eyebrow at him questioningly. "Dad?" the little boy asked quietly walking over to Clark and flopping against his legs in what seemed to be a familiar trusting way. "Is it time for presents?"

Clark's eyes widened at the young boy then swung back to Chloe whose shoulders were shaking merrily as she watched the young boy and Clark.

When Clark didn't answer immediately the young boy gathered his possessions together and walked over to Chloe who lifted him up into the bed, onto her lap and smiled down at him, "It's Christmas Eve honey, remember how Daddy told you last night that you had two more sleeps 'til presents?" The little boy nodded trustingly up at her, "And how many sleeps has it been?" Chloe asked patiently barely suppressing her grin over at Clark as she waited for his answer.

"Two?" the little boy asked peeking up from under the blanket he had resting against his face as he sucked his thumb. Clark began to believe this little act had happened before, from the way the young boy was smiling and Chloe rolled her eyes at Clark, Clark however was starting to get a little twitchy noticing that Chloe wasn't wearing a lot in that bed and he was standing in the middle of the room in his underwear. Not to mention there was a little mini-me calling him Dad and Chloe was giving him a few looks that made him highly uncomfortable coming from her.

"Jonathon," Chloe warned softly in an amused voice.

"One," the kid sighed and looked up at Clark, "But we're still goin' to get the tree today right?" he implored of Clark with his eyes, then he turned to Chloe, "Right Mom?"

Mom? _What_ was going on? He must have got hit on the head pretty hard. Him and Chloe parents? "Uh, Chloe?" Clark looked at her in his usual confused way.

"Yaha?" she smiled up at him, then shook her head. "Oh no, no, no, no, SuperClark, I don't care if you hear a damsel in distress, you can still save the day and go Christmas tree shopping with me. It's tradition."

"Chlo…"

Chloe continued to shake her head and started tickling Jonathon in her lap, "Now you go get ready for Grandma and Grandpa's, and I'll wake up little Miss Kent." She looked up at Clark and grinned, "Do you need to go save the day or what?"

Clark waited for the little boy to leave the room and looked over at Chloe, whose left hand was brushing her…long?...blonde hair out of her eyes. Two things were wrong in this picture, Clark realized, one; her hair was very long, like Lana long, and two; she had an engagement ring and wedding band on her marriage finger. "This may seem like a stupid question, but what year is this?"

"Oh ha ha, funny man," Chloe sighed and swung herself out of bed. She wasn't really wearing much at all, Clark realised as she strolled over to him in her little blue boxer shorts and a matching blue singlet top. Resisting the urge to ran away and hide as his instincts were telling him to do, he decided instead to listen to his baser instincts which were telling him that Chloe looked real good in her pyjamas and stood where he was – admittedly freaking out a little. She stopped just short of touching him but definitely in his personal space, and looked up at him with her shining green eyes and a suggestive smile on her face. The instinct to run and hide reared its ugly head once more, but he was transfixed, Chloe had never looked at him with such an open, honest, lustful look in her eye. And he found it didn't make him want to run and hide anymore – though granted it made him very nervous.

"Little Miss Kent?" he asked trying to slow down his racing heart, "W-what year Chloe?" he asked the last more firmly as she raised a hand – the one with the rings – and put it gently on his chest as she reached up on her tip-toes and waited.

"Lara, your daughter, who's one and a half years old," she grinned still on her tip-toes, hand still on his chest, "the year is 2012, and if you don't kiss me right now Clark Kent, I'm going to tell everybody," she paused grinning, "what really is under those blue and red tights you're so found of."

"T-tights?" he asked nervously, but a second later all thoughts ceased, the world stopped turning, nothing moved – except of course Chloe as she pulled his head towards hers and kissed him. No that wasn't the right word to describe it, she _kissed_ him. Like she loved him. Like there was nothing else in the whole entire world that she would rather do. No-one else she would rather kiss. He decided now possibly wasn't the right time to mention his girlfriend Lana. Nor the fact that the last time he remembered it was six years ago and he wasn't married to his best friend, or had children (really cute children of course) with her.

He realised all to soon the kiss was over and Chloe was walking away from him towards a door which he assumed led to their…whoa, daughters…room. She strolled back on through the door about five minutes later carrying the cutest child he had ever seen – apart from the one that was just in the room of course, and he hadn't moved an inch. He was still waiting for feeling to come back into his body after that soul-destroying kiss he had just shared with his best friend. He really needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Clark?" Chloe asked waving a hand in front of his face as she swayed her body slightly to comfort the young light brown haired child in her arms who was staring sleepily up at him her head resting on Chloe's shoulder. "You know if you don't take her in the next ten seconds she's going to start a tantrum like the world has never seen," she commented thrusting the child into his arms as her eyes began to scrunch up threateningly, "I really don't want to know what she's going to be like when/if she gets her powers."

"When," he responded without thinking with a bit of pride in his voice he didn't intend. He looked up surprised into Chloe's eyes, "She's gorgeous," he breathed quietly holding her gently to his chest.

"Yeah well," Chloe shrugged with a smile and turned around lifting her top up off her body as she walked into their ensuite "I'd love to say I did it all myself," she smirked over her shoulder, Clark managed to close his eyes quickly before he saw anything, and turned his back on what he knew was now happening in that room with the shower started. He was very confused at this point but understood that he couldn't confide in his most trusted confidante, because it was unlikely Chloe would be very impressed when he told her he was dating Lana and had no idea where these beautiful children could have come from. Where was Lana? And where was Lex for that matter. He deftly put in his pants still holding Lara clutched to his chest, who was just quietly watching him, with a slight smile on her face. He walked out the bedroom door and followed his ears downstairs to what he found was a living room joined to a kitchen, not unlike his childhood home, and his _son_ sitting in front of the television with a bowl of cereal in front of him eyes glued to the screen.

After watching his son for a short time, Clark walked past him and into the kitchen and gently placed Lara in her kiddie-seat by the kitchen table. This was surreal, he married Chloe? What had happened to Lana? Why hadn't he married the supposed love of his life? Oh no, he breathed suddenly, she was still alive right? He jumped as the phone ringing yanked him out of his thoughts, "Hello?" he asked hesitantly into the phone once he found it beside the fridge.

"Smallville? You need to put that cousin of mine on the phone now."

"Lois?" he asked incredulously.

"Why so surprised Kent? I told you yesterday at work I was working today before your parents party. Hence why I need Chlo, and her awesome hacking skills, you may have traditions to uphold but I have a Luther to bring down."

"What did Lex do now?" he asked quickly keeping an eye on both his children as he lent against the fridge.

"Lex?" Lois asked, he could hear her frown down the phone, "What's he got to do with anything. I'm aiming for the big fish, not the one that swam to the good side ages ago. Keep up would you Smallville?"

Chloe swanned into the room with a hat on her head, a plaid coat, and some seriously tall boots on her feet, she looked at Jonathon, then swivelled her gaze to Lara, then at Clark who was watching her as Lois barked instructions down the phone. "Dropped the ball today haven't you SuperClark?" she sighed then nudged her son with the tip of her boot as he avoided her gaze, "I said dressed Jonathon Kent, though good work on the breakfast," she grinned as he jumped up and ran upstairs to – hopefully – put some clothes on. Then turned to a shirtless Clark and a unnaturally quiet young daughter, and rose her eyebrow. Walking over she picked the phone out of Clark's hand and rose it to her ear, "Lois?" she waited patiently, "Lo."

Clark rose out his chair but was stopped when Chloe's hand pushed him back down again, "I'm just going to-" he was cut off as Chloe's eyes kept him in place and the shake of her head made him stop moving.

"Lois, it's Christmas Eve, you know I love your work ethic, and admire your ability to hunt down every last lead nearly as good as I used to. But it's Christmas Eve and I have children to dump on their grandparents, last minute presents to by and traditions to uphold, oh and a husband to ravage. Go away. I will help you in two days and not a minute sooner."

Did she say ravage? Lara looked up at her Mom on the phone and her Dad sitting scared in his seat and opened her mouth letting out a roar. Clark jumped in shock and Chloe tapped him none to gently on the shoulder and pointed at their child, then put her hand over the mouth piece of the phone as her cousin continued to beg for her help, and whispered to Clark, "You made her," she began with a smile, "You clothe her and give her her bottle, you have ten minutes Superman, hop to it." Then kissed him gently on the cheek and walked through a door into what Clark could only assume was her office as he glimpsed a computer screen. He put his finger to where she had kissed him and smiled slightly, his goofy smile, he kind of liked that kiss. He was brought back to reality once more by the continued roaring – she had some serious lungs – of Lara as she glared at him across the table. He zoomed over, picked her up, then zoomed upstairs to clothe her as instructed. Was it weird that he was beginning to like this life?


	5. Chapter 5

Hey Team! Thanks for the reviews, and thanks to mplamer89 for some ideas about the ending!! This is my next chapter which is sort of the explanation for clark, and the chpter after this will be full on Chlark, so not to worry if there's not enough of them in this one!!

Hope you enjoy;)

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Clark was bewildered by the speed with which Chloe had them all in their rightful places in the car with him at the wheel and her staring at him strangely as they sat there without moving. In fact Chloe had been looking at him strangely since he had looked at his soon oddly when he had turned up downstairs with his underwear over his pants. Chloe had chuckled and righted his appearance all the while keeping up with the endless chatter their son produced about superheroes and his grandparents and his friends. The boy could talk the ear off anyone, but Chloe just nodded and added things here and there as she picked him up and took him out to the car, Clark following behind her trying to pick up on some clues as to what he was supposed to do with the now smiling prettily baby in his arms. When Chloe had given him an assessing look as she finished settling Jonathon in his car seat and turned to Clark, "What is going on with you today?" she sighed frowning as she impatiently reached for Lara and settled her to into her car seat, then walked around and jumped into the passenger seat. With nothing left to give him clues he had climbed into the driver's seat and looked questioningly at Chloe, she chuckled in confusion and pointed in front of them, "Up, up and away Clark…to your parents?" At her bemused question he launched the car into gear – there's where he can get some answers, thank god, and turned down his parents driveway, about ten minutes later. He grinned in relief as both parents walked out onto the porch and watched them unload the children, waving in greeting to young Jonathon as he raced out of the car and up to his grandparents throwing himself into his grandfathers arms.

"Hey son," Jonathon called to Clark as he shut the car door. "Why don't you bring the gorgeous females in your family inside so you can help us set up for the party," he grinned down at Chloe who was holding an alert Lara in her arms as she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey Grandpa Kent," she smiled in greeting, "How far along's the set up? Or were you waiting for the muscles in the family. 'Cause I warn you Lara had a late night last night, so I don't know if she's up to heavy lifting."

Martha chuckled and grabbed her granddaughter out of Chloe's arms, and turned to take her inside, Chloe followed with Jonathon's hand in hers leaving the two elder Kent's outside. As Clark turned to follow his Dad to the barn to gather some more decorations for the house he caught a reflection in the window that wasn't his own or his fathers, stopping short he turned back quickly but it was gone – the reflection had looked familiar. Very familiar. All of a sudden Clark felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned towards the movement. By this time his father had gone into the barn leaving Clark alone on the porch of the family farm…and staring into the face of…his mother. His _biological_ mother. Out of all the bizarre experiences Clark had had in his life, this one seemed to be edging out his crystal fortress and even the disembodied voice of his biological father. He opened his mouth to speak but she put her finger to his lips in a hushing motion. His life just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Oh Kal-El, how I have missed you," the beauty said in greeting as her finger on his face went to trace the outline of his eyebrows and then his nose and lips. "You look just like your father." If it was possible this women was more stunning than anyone he had ever seen before, her hair was long, reaching down to her hips and floated – yep floated – around her as she moved the white blonde curls wrapping and unwrapping around her body like she was in constant motion but remained still. Her eyes were a pure green and dominated her face outlined with pure black lashes, her nose was small and pert and her lips were a slight pinkish colour. Clark realised she reminded him slightly of Chloe and pocketed that comparison away to figure out later.

"Ah," Clark muttered, "Lara?"

She smiled again and nodded slowly her hair still floating in a slightly ethereal way, "My son," she answered, "Do you like my gift to you?"

"Gift?" He repeated, "Me being in this alternate universe is a gift from you?"

Her smile widened and she shook her head, "This is not an alternate universe Kal-El, this is your future."

"I don't understand," Clark frowned, "I was shot."

"Yes you were," she answered with a small nod of her head and a slight frown, "Unfortunately the power of the rocks that arrived with you were not thought of my son, and for that I apologize."

"Am I dead?"

Lara's smile returned and she seemed to chuckle slightly as she placed her hand on his shoulder and turned them so they were overlooking one of the fields and not the barn, "No, you are not. There is much for you to do in your life your father would not let you pass so soon."

"Then what is going on," he asked firmly more than a little annoyed, "Where am I, and why is this my gift?"

"There is much to happen in your life Kal-El that will hurt you more than anyone should be hurt and test you more than anyone should be tested," she sighed sadly looking out at the snow covered fields. "My gift to you, my one joy, is to show you what you are fighting for."

"Christmas?" Clark answered sarcastically wondering why everyone from Krypton chose to speak in riddles.

He was surprise to hear her soft laugh as she again shook her head, "I have been told these humans have a strange sense of humour, I am glad you have acquired it," she smiled appreciatively up at her son. "Yes in a sense you are fighting for Christmas, for without your help many people may not be able to experience this future as you are destined to. But what was truly meant by my gift was to show you that no matter what loss you may suffer, if you make the right decisions, if you fight for what you believe in, that this future can be yours."

Clark frowned slightly, "Not that I'm not happy with this future, I doubt this will be my life."

Lara raised a questioning eyebrow at her son, "Will it not?"

"Lana," Clark couldn't suppress the slight smile her name always brought to his lips.

"Ah," Lara smiled knowingly, "A boys dream. Young human love so pure it amazes even me."

"A boy's dream?" Clark repeated more than little annoyed this time.

Lara shook her head in apology, "I did not mean to offend you Kal-El. And I cannot explain to you why your future is not with Lana as I know your love for her is strong." She strolled slowly along the porch running her hand through the snow piles here and there, "Is this Chloe so bad?" she asked softly as she stopped and turned back to him, "For she seems amazing to me."

"She is my best friend," he stated simply.

"You do not love her?"

"I-" Clark faltered, he could not say he didn't love her, she was Chloe, he did love her – a lot – just not in _that_ way. Not in the making babies way. "I do love her," he finally answered, "But not like I love Lana."

"You can imagine your life without her?"

Clark shook his head fiercely, "She will always be in my life, I just don't think she will be my life."

"Semantics," Lara dismissed his final statement then turned to a window that looked into the Kent's living room, and watched her grandchildren play with their mother, who was joining forces with her son in teaching Lara to walk without falling over. "Look at the beautiful family you may one day have. Do you not want this?"

Clark slowly walked up behind her biting back a smile as all three of his 'family' fell over at the same time – Chloe on purpose, the children by accident with Martha curling up with laughter on the couch watching. "I do want this," Clark answered without realising.

"Then you want Chloe," Lara responded quietly.

Again Clark shook his head, "Where is Lana?"

"Lana is happy Kal-El, not as happy as you are, but quite possibly a close second. You will find out soon enough her fate Kal-El, but for now I would like you to do something for me…"

Clark accepted her answer trusting that he will get the answers he seeks in time, "And that would be?"

"Talk to her, to Chloe, ask her about your life together, be her husband," Lara answered.

"You ask too much. I have a girlfriend…" Clark answered frowning, but also regretfully.

Her soft chuckle returned and she turned her eyes shining to her son, who struggled to pull his eyes away from the scene in the living room, "Be aware of the true meaning of my words Kal-El, I only mean to be open to this experience, take it all in, remember all of it. I do not ask you to betray anyone, I ask you to let yourself understand different opportunities. I fear you are blinded by one who seeks to keep you to herself." She held up her hand at the angry protest her son was about to voice, "And you too seek to have her all to yourself."

Clark sighed and looked down at his mother, it was not far down to look she was only slightly shorter than himself at about 6 foot, "I love her," he said simply.

"Ah, but maybe you could love another more. More than you ever thought possible. The reverence you have for someone and the primal need to have them in your life whether they are with you or not speaks of love Kal-El. True love. You must respect and trust without doubt or secrets. That is love. Think of this while you spend time in this future my son."

Clark looked back through the window at his family then turned back to Lara, but she was gone. Riddles again? He tried to repress that spark of interest that had occurred when Lara had asked Clark to be Chloe's husband. He accepted that all along she had been in the back of his mind in a romantic way. They had always had a sort of chemistry that sometimes got them into trouble, awkward trouble. But he realised he had never really brought this thought to the front of his mind – well maybe at their first prom, oh and the first time he was on red kryptonite and maybe in the elevator… – how could he when he was confronted with his beautiful Lana everyday. It was hard for him to think about anyone else when Lana was two feet away.

A sudden banging on the window brought him back to reality – well his present reality at least – as Chloe and young Jonathon pressed their faces up against the window in funny ways, and tapping to get his attention. Clark couldn't hold back his laughter at this scene. She could always make him smile.

Yes, he finally decided as he strolled back around the porch and opened the front door, his son barrelling into his legs and demanding to be picked up as Chloe looked on grinning and poked her tongue out at Clark as she picked up a bowl of cookie-dough off the counter and began to stir it, he would talk to Chloe. He could always talk to her about anything, she would understand…she always did.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ok spill it," Chloe sighed, as she strolled up behind Clark who was overlooking the farm from his loft in the barn

"Ok spill it," Chloe sighed, as she strolled up behind Clark who was overlooking the farm from his loft in the barn. She refrained from putting her arms around his middle like she would usually do and instead folded her arms and leaned against the window sill looking up at him. She knew something was going on but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Last night had been fine, they'd read the kids some stories put them to bed, then stayed up wrapping Christmas presents and talking. They'd gone to bed exhausted and slept wrapt in each others arms, it was bliss. But this morning, well, he seemed completely bemused by the whole situation he found himself in. He had looked like a nervous teenager when she'd walked up to him in her pyjamas, and she would know; she'd inspired that awkward look from this particular teenage boy more times than she could count.

He had escaped the comforts of his home after one too many probing looks from Chloe, he loved her sure but did she have to know him quite so well? "I need to ask you some questions and I need you to pretend that I don't know the answers. Can you be honest?"

She raised both eyebrows at him, then nodded her head and answered softly, "I'm slightly insulted that you had to ask me to be honest, but I'll play along…"

He took her hand lightly and pulled her along to the couch at the top of the loft's stairs, sat down and pulled her hand so she sat down next to him. She fell into her usual spot right next to him, one whole side of her body up against his, he jerked a little and pulled away slightly trying to put a little distance between them – hating the hurt look in her eye as at hurt him as well. "Are we happy?" he asked finally searching for the right questions to ask.

She smiled, but Clark could still see the hurt look in her eyes, "Well I am…" she ventured slowly.

"You know me better than anyone," he said softly looking into her eyes, "If your happy that would make me…"

"Happy," she grinned.

"Ok," encouraged Clark again struggled for the right questions, "How…uh…how long have we been together?"

That assessing look in Chloe's eyes got more intense with every word he uttered and he was aware he wasn't doing the whole subtle interrogation thing very well, "Is this about our anniversary? Because I know today is going to be quite hectic, we can celebrate it next week if you want when the kids have settled down again. But we still have to get the tree. I'm sure we can even get your parents to look after the kids so we can have some alone time. Lana was going to bring Alexander 'round later to play with Jonah, but Lex decided he wanted to take him…" Chloe noticed two things at once, one; she was rambling – like she used to do, when she was nervous around her hunky best friend…and two, when she had said Lana's name her husband had perked up – interesting.

"Alexander?" Clark questioned quickly avoiding her eyes.

"Lex and Lana's son Alexander, he's six," Chloe explained, frowning, "Lana wanted a little break from him today; I know how hard it is being pregnant and chasing after a toddler. Though I can't imagine she had as interesting a pregnancy as me," Chloe finished on a grin as she absentmindedly put her hand to her stomach.

"Lana's pregnant? To _Lex_?" to say Clark was surprised would be a complete understatement.

Chloe nodded watching his reaction, "Well it's hardly a surprise is it? They've been married for nearly six years and Alex just turned five. It's about time they got around to another one."

"They've been married for nearly six years?" Clark couldn't help but do the math, that would mean he and Lana were only together for another few months – even weeks. That can't be right.

Chloe nodded, "Nearly mid next year I think will be their anniversary, do you have amnesia again?"

Clark's eyes widened in surprise, "Sort of. How long after their wedding did we get together?"

"Are you trying to figure out if we were a rebound thing?" Chloe asked softly.

"No…I…" Clark just gave her a surrendering look. "Just tell me about us."

"Clark you know me better than anyone else in the whole world, do you think I would be with you if I thought there was even an inkling that you might still be in love with Lana or trying to hurt her through me?"

"No."

"Good," she breathed out slowly. "In fact I think that's why we didn't get together for so long after we realised our feelings for each other. You didn't want me to think you wanted to be with me because of that, oh and you were too dense to realise what was going on," she added with a grin, "And I wanted to be sure that you wanted to be with me for me."

"And how did you realise that?" he asked smiling.

A soft, small smile lit up Chloe's eyes as she thought back to that time in her life, "Well three things; one was that you spent most of your time protecting every move I made for a year before we got together, which though not unusual for us, was made more significant when you did it even when Lana was involved," she chuckled at his sheepish look. "Two, the awkward moments increased so much that we couldn't sit within two feet of each other without jumping away. And three you tended to get really suspicious of the people I dated."

"Well considering your past boyfriends and the meteor infected I'm not surprised."

Chloe laughed, "Give me a break! It was hard to find a guy to date in the whole of Kansas who wasn't affected by the meteors or the Luther's. But you took it upon yourself to investigate everything about them, _and_ had a few power malfunctions just before we got together that I like to blame on your burning jealousy," she teased.

Clark couldn't help himself; he reached out and cupped his hand against her cheek as her smile tore at his heart, Chloe did the same to him gently stroking her thumb across the stubble on his jaw. "I think I made the right choice…" He realised something he had never really noticed before, Chloe was never as honest and open with anyone but him, and he had never been as honest or open with anyone else but her – he loved that she didn't hide anything from him.

It still amazed Chloe today that no matter how many times she looked into his eyes, she never got used to the little thrill it caused, and she thought that it was slightly unfair that he got hotter everyday. He leaned in slowly to kiss her and she smiled as he got close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips, she looked into his eyes and recognised the question that was there. He had that look the time they had shared their first real kiss, like he was asking her permission, like he wasn't going to break their friendship for something she didn't want. She smiled against his lips, "Not until you tell me what's really going on Clark Kent." She couldn't contain her grin at the obvious disappointment in his eyes, she pulled away just slightly watching him let out a slow deep breath, then couldn't do it and reached up and kissed him. She kissed him lingeringly, like she meant it, the way that had taken minutes to perfect, but years to enjoy. She pulled away after a few minutes and watched his reaction. He slowly slumped back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

"Not to be the broken record, but…if you don't tell me what's going on in the next ten minutes I will not be held accountable for my actions," she warned five minutes later.

He opened one eye and looked at her. Did she have any idea that his whole world had just changed? That kiss…well it wasn't supposed to be like that. That was…amazing. Life changing? Oh he didn't know, sighing he opened his other eye and turned to her. Amnesia or a glimpse into the future? Lie to her for the first time since she had learned his secret or be completely honest and risk hurting her – after all he was still technically dating Lana. "Ok," he breathed, "The last thing I remember it was Christmas Eve 2005, you had sent me to the slums of Metropolis to save Lex, and I was shot in an alleyway. I woke up in our bed, with you in next to nothing," (he didn't know why he felt the need to point _that_ out) "and an instant family."

Chloe's eyes widened and she let out a low whistle, "Well that explains a lot. So I was right, you do have amnesia?"

"Not exactly," he took her hand in his and scrunched up his face in apology, "My mother sent me here. It's my future, I haven't forgotten the last six years, I haven't lived them."

Chloe looked thoughtful and gave him a half smile, "It's hard to be shocked since I met you Clark Kent," she shrugged, "how do you know your mother sent you here?"

"She told me, when I was outside on the porch she…appeared…and explained that she was showing me what I was fighting for." He explained, "Oh and she said she really liked you."

Chloe chuckled, "Well there's that," she stood up and reached out for his hand. "Ok, Clark Kent I've decided to take this game to the next level." At Clark's worried/uncomfortable look she couldn't suppress her laugh, "Not that level, though thanks for going there," she pulled him up off the couch as he finally gave her his hand, "Considering you're still dating the famous Lana Lang…" she paused letting him know she understood why he had found it hard to tell her, "thanks for coming with me."

"Where are we going?" he smiled after her finally relaxed into her company.

"Christmas tree shopping," she said simply. "And to fill you in about the fabulous tell-all book I just wrote about the inside workings of LutherCorp."

"You wrote a tell-all about LutherCorp? Are you in danger?" he asked suddenly, not quite liking this surprise.

"Ha," she grinned and rolled her eyes, "Let's just say that it doesn't hurt to have my own live in superhero, and Lex is pretty good with being the in-between, playing defence to your quarterback. And just to make you feel better, we've had this conversation a few times and I always win."

He watched her closely for a few minutes pausing and not letting her drag him onwards, "Do you always win the arguments?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you think?" she smirked, and dragged him onwards.

"Ok, so why is Christmas tree shopping our tradition?" he asked interestedly.

"I warn you right now Clark Kent that I'm not going to tell you everything about how we got to this point," Chloe told him honestly, "Otherwise it might not end up this way, and I like it this way," she blurted out the last and quickly turned into his arms and kissed him passionately on the lips before hugging him tightly. Releasing him after a moment she continued on dragging him behind her, "We made it a tradition before we got together actually, you noticed I didn't have a tree and you knew that that was the thing I loved the most about Christmas so you did your Super Clark thing and got me one as a gift. And then you said that we should shop for one every year, you said that that can be our gift to each other," she sighed remembering, not noticing that she had began to gently stroke her thumb over his wrist as they stood at the bottom step of his parents back porch while she explained. He liked the unconscious way she touched him, he got the impression that they were never far from each other, and when they were close they couldn't help but be in physical contact in some way – he couldn't wait for that. "Did I tell you I wrote an awesome book – and it's getting published?" she asked with a grin.

"You may have mentioned it," he responded and decided to lead the way into his parents house grabbing her hand. He opened the door and what he saw made him stop mid-stride his son was lifting the couch…with one arm…over his head…so that his Mom could vacuum underneath it. He couldn't suppress his grin.

"We're going to go and get the tree now, you alright here?" Chloe asked picking Lara up off the floor where she was waddling around and tickling her.

Martha nodded, grinning at her grandson, "Jonah and I are cleaning and Lara keeps following her granddad around every time he comes inside, I'm sure we can manage."

Chloe smiled at Lara as she started to impatiently squirm for release. When she put her on the ground Lara wandered over to Clark and started whimpering and grabbing his pant legs. He lifted her into his arms and smiled down at her – he wanted her to exist, he wanted Jonah to exist, but the confusion he was beginning to feel about Lana and Chloe was getting a bit intense.

"Alright," Chloe said giving him an apologetic look and taking Lara from him and nudging her in the direction of her brother – who incidentally Lara was obsessed with, she often spent hours just following her brother around adoringly.

She grabbed Clark's hand and waved goodbye to her children and her parents-in-law, and they walked out to the car. Jumping in the passenger seat, she motioned for him to start the car, "Let's get the Christmas Tree," she encouraged enthusiastically. As he started to reverse the car Chloe turned to him seriously, "Now Clark, I know you're in the future and all," she began cautiously, "But did I happen to mention that I wrote an awesome book that's about to get published…?"


	7. Chapter 7

Hey there guys, thank you so much for all your awesome reviews and prompts to get my bum into gear and get you guys another chapter. I do sometimes need these prompts because sometimes I get brain block and can't figure out which direction I want to take my stories. With this story I was trying to figure out how to get Clark and Chloe to have 'intimate' moments without making it so easy for them to get together because he is technically still with Lana and Clark may be some things but a cheater isn't one of them. So the delicate balance of this relationship is harder than I thought it was going to be. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnywho, i'll stop boring you with my problems and thank you all again for your reviews and alerts, favourite story thingamys.

Hope you like….

(oh and I don't own these characters, but I did steal some words from Lexmas, so shhhhh)

……………………

As they pulled to a stop outside the parking lot set up in the middle of Smallville for the sale of Christmas trees, Chloe turned to Clark with an uneasy smile on her face. "So we're all caught up now right?" Chloe had spent the short drive into Smallville updating Clark on the relevant things in his life – the things he should know if he bumped into certain people and they asked questions. Chloe had let him know it was perfectly acceptable for him to explain with joy and pride how his darling wife had successfully written a tell-all book about a major figure in the world and lived to tell the tale. In fact if he started his conversations off with this praise then Chloe was sure that nobody would be the wiser to his lack of knowledge about the last six years of his life.

While listening to Chloe's cheerful explanations, Clark was bemused by the enthusiasm she had for whatever she was doing, had she always been this way? Or had she become happier since they had been together? Was that slightly conceited of him…ok maybe a lot…but he was honestly astounded that he had never noticed before how resilient Chloe was. She had in a short amount of time summarised the most amazing of his own achievements, pretty much reducing their life together to the things that he had achieved, with only partial mention of her book, and a lot devoted to their children and his work. She was pretty good at leaving out the stuff he most wanted to know however, when it got to important parts of his life, her life, or his children's lives, Chloe would simply stop talking smile and say "Well, you know, well you don't know _now_ obviously, but you know soon…anyway…" And no matter what objections he had raised or how charming he had been, not to mention how much his face hurt from smiling his famous 'Clark Kent' smile, she wouldn't budge. Frankly Clark had never known Chloe to keep anything from him before in his life and was hard pressed to believe she could keep anything this important from him for long, and if that wasn't enough, she seemed to be _enjoying_ it. He knew he shouldn't have told her the whole story, he would have found out everything by now if he didn't feel the need to tell the truth to his best friend…wife…family?

Chloe was by this time frantically waving her hand in front of his face to gain his attention, although he had been less than attentive over the last five minutes, Chloe was sure he was just processing the information she had given him, but she was just not used to him not paying attention to her anymore. Obviously when they had been younger it was hard to tear his focus away from Lana, and even Lois for a while, but happily Chloe had had his full attention for going on five years and she wasn't quite happy about giving it up. Clearly he had to have time to process all this information, but didn't his superhuman brain process things faster than hers? Or maybe couldn't he just look at her while thinking about other things and not stare into space like he was doing – people were starting to give him odd looks as he sat in the seat next to her in the car and just stared out the window. "Clark Kent," Chloe finally whispered sternly as he continued to ignore her, "If you don't look at me this minute, I won't ever marry you and have your children!" She smirked as his gaze swung to hers and a frown marred his chiselled features.

"I'm sorry?" Clark questioned unsure of how he had been pulled out of his thoughts so abruptly by her words and yet have no idea what they were.

"No problem," She forgave him instantly, aware that he had no idea what she had said but still satisfied that this possibility scared him. "Now let's go pick a tree," she jumped out of the car happily and waited until he reached her before she led him into the parking lot full of Christmas trees. Grabbing his hand suddenly she pulled Clark towards her and leaned up to whisper in his ear, "That's Lex's car so he must be here somewhere. Remember you like him, you and his son get along very well but you haven't been around a lot lately because of your new job."

Largely distracted by her hand in his and her lips close proximity to his ear, Clark tried really hard to concentrate on what she was saying but as her lips brushed his cheek on the way down he had to ask her to say what she had said once more. How had he never realised he had this reaction to her before? Was he completely stupid? "Sorry Chlo, what was that?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him but repeated her reminder and turned to see Lex standing not to far away from them gazing admiring at the trees with little Alex bouncing around like his latest sugar fix had just kicked in.

"Clark," Lex called running towards him, "Oh you have no idea how happy I am to see the two of you!" He exclaimed over their surprised chuckles.

"Are you a father again?" Chloe asked quickly clutching his Lex's arm in excitement.

"Ah," a quick frown marred Lex's face as he considered the question, "No, ah, I was just-"

"Uncle Clark, Uncle Clark," Alex called racing over to Clark and jumping into his arms.

Clark grinned down at him picking him up and throwing him into a flying position, "Hey little guy," Clark smiled over at Chloe quickly and sank into his role as doting Uncle to a young boy who looked remarkably a lot like a miniature Lex with Lana's colouring. Swinging him round he found that it wasn't a bit strange that he held his girlfriends son in his arms who happened to be fathered by someone else. The kid was cute. "I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, things have been crazy at the Planet," he apologised to the giggling young boy in his arms – though noting that he and Chloe's gorgeous children were much cuter.

Chloe grinned over at him in pride as she turned to Lex, "Yeah don't let his things have been crazy line fool you, he got promoted!" She couldn't suppress her pride as she smiled up at her friend.

"Yeah! Now I'm a full fledged reporter," Clark called over, silently amazing over this development in his life and how easy it was to slip these snippets of fact he had just learned into the conversation.

"I've got some pretty big news to," Chloe smiled calmly at Lex as her gaze glanced over Clark and Alex quickly. Clark shot her a look that clearly said 'here we go again'.

"Ok?" Lex replied hesitantly.

"My book will be published in January."

"Wow," Lex smiled encouragingly, "That's great."

"Yeah they loved the idea of a Luther Corp expose complete with an anonymous tell-all source. Thank you so much," She reached in to hug him, "I couldn't have done it without you Lex."

Surprised with the possessive and jealous feelings that were evoked by Lex and Chloe simply hugging Clark found himself speaking up, "Alright, Miss 'Did I mention my book is about to be published' let's get your tree and get out of here."

Chloe grinned up at Lex then turned to her husband with both eyebrows raised "You're right," she patted Alex softly on the shoulder, "Bye Alex, Bye Lex."

"See you," Clark called over his shoulder. "See you tonight," he called remembering Chloe's update on their Christmas plans, putting his hand to the small of her back, Clark pulled Chloe closer towards him and guided her through the trees.

"Yeah see ya," Lex called back a little bewildered by their fast paced greetings and departure.

Chloe grinned up at Clark settling into his side as they walked past trees debating their merits with each other, "Lex seemed a little off," she commented reaching out to touch a tree branch softly. As she moved just slightly out of his reach Clark unconsciously but softly grabbed her arm and pulled her back into his arms as Chloe bit back a smirk at his movements, "He seemed really bowled over by my book, which is weird seeing as he's the one who convinced me to write it."

Clark just shrugged as he continued to stroll through the park, "Seemed as dodgy as usual to me."

Chloe chuckled and elbowed him in the side, "Be nice, your friends now remember? He was actually the one to convince _me_ to give you a chance."

"_What_?" Clark asked shocked, stopping in his tracks and pulling her closer to him as she tried to continue walking. "_Lex_ convinced you to give me a chance. You needed _convincing_ from _Lex_?" He held up a hand when she tried to get a word in, "Let me wallow on this for a while would you?"

Knowing exactly what was running through his mind Chloe pinched him on the wrist and made him look down into her eyes, "No, Mr Untrusting, he did not do it so that he could get you away from Lana," she held up her hand as he had done when he tried to interrupt, "_Nor_," she continued, "did he do it so he could _keep_ you away from Lana."

"Then why?"  
"Because he knew you loved me, and knew that I loved you, and he was sick and tired of watching us dance around each other pretending we didn't."

"But we needed Lex to convince us to do it? Couldn't we have just figured it out by ourselves?"

"Figure it out? We knew what was going on, we were just to scared to do anything about it," Chloe explained patiently then pointed to a tree, "I want that one."

Clark shook his head at her in frustration then gazed up at the tree, "You want it, you got it," he agreed.

Chloe swung around towards him and gazed up lovingly into his eyes the grin that spread across her face as the smile tugged at his lips was almost too stunning for him to believe – man could that girl smile. He slowly lowered his head towards hers and placed his forehead on hers losing himself in her beautiful green eyes, how just could not believe that he had let so much of her pass him by for so long. Keeping his gaze locked on hers he leant his mouth down until their lips were millimetres apart, and smiled as she rose a single blonde eyebrow in challenge. Suddenly his mouth closed in on hers and he moulded her body to his as their lips moved against each others.


	8. Chapter 8

I decided since you guys had been awesome in the review and alert department you deserved a treat. So here I am up till 1am writing a massive chapter for you to read that will hopefully satisfy you while I figure out where to end this story. Because after Lana does the hospital thing the Lex's dream goes away, and so to probably should Clarks as I'm trying to stay as true to the episode as possible (secretly the more like the episode the more possible it could be – I may be deluded but I'm a Chlark fan so it's ok). Annnnnnnnnywho, again I'll stop boring you with my troubles and thanks to Harlequin Jade for the first review of the last chapter!! I know I'm not very good at naming all my awesome reviewers, but I got hers while writing this chapter and it kept me going to the bitter end so THANK YOU!!

And I'm spent…I don't own anything to do with Smallville (except the box sets) so don't sue me!

Cheers

…………………………………………..

As they pulled apart from each other slowly Clark was about ready to run away into the bushes. This was all too weird, that kiss…that kiss was…unreal, life changing, mind altering…Chloe gave good kiss. Was it just her, or was it them together? Clarks mind was spinning and he definitely needed to get a grip. Chloe grinned, her eyes sparkling, and Clark was beginning to get annoyed by the way Chloe could read his mind. Letting the grin on her face reduce to just a tug at her lips, Chloe turned towards the booth where people were exchanging money for their perfect tree, and walked up to the vender "I would like the tree over there please. The one that tall, dark and handsome over there is standing bemused in front of."

The vender grinned over at her, "No problem, and will you be taking tall, dark and handsome with ya too?"

Chloe shrugged and considered this for a moment, "How much?"

Chuckling the vender shrugged and gazed up at 'tall, dark and handsome' who had walked up behind her, "A dollar."

"Too expensive," Chloe sighed sadly, "But I'll still take the tree."

Placing his right arm gently across her shoulders Clark shook his head, "Keep negotiating, I'm sure she'll take me at a reduced price."

The vender finally laughed outright and gave her, her change, "You two make a lovely couple, don't I know you?" he added on quickly looking up at Clark and scrunching his nose in confusion.

Chloe's eyes widened when she realised the connection between the vender and Clark…superman, "His Dad is a state governor, you've probably seen him in family photos…" quickly she grabbed Clarks hand and dragged him towards the tree, "Bye," she called over her shoulder as she motioned to Clark to pick up the tree, "Get a move on Kent, the days not getting any younger."

Was it Clark or did Chloe sound a lot like Lois then? Speaking of which, "Is Lois going to be there tonight?"

Chloe shook her head in the negative as she tried unsuccessfully to hurry them along as the tree vender was walking slowly up to them, "I mean it Kent, we're wasting daylight here," she called desperately.

Stopping what he was doing and turning to Chloe grasping the tree in his arms he looked down into her desperate eyes, not budging when she tried to push him forward "You sound like Lois's Dad," he complained with a smile.

She glared up at him channelling her mothering instincts anxiously, "Just get moving would you," but it was too late, the vender and stopped in front of Clark and was looking up at his chiselled features in bewilderment.

"You're, you're" he began.

Beyond desperately now Chloe sent Clark a pleading look, "let's go" she whispered so only he could here.

Turning to the old man Clark stood there stubbornly now waiting for this guy to let slip what Chloe desperately didn't want him to know, "I'm…" he prompted.

"You're the old quarterback for the Smallville crows!" he laughed in delight, "Could have gone pro, you could, but wussied out. Whatever happened to you?"

Practically collapsing on the floor in relief Chloe smiled smugly at Clarks disappointed expression, barely containing the 'Na na na na na' that threatened to pop out as they picked themselves up and proceeded to put everything in the car. "I work for the Daily Planet now," Clark explained to the old man as everything was packed into the car and Chloe climbed in to the passenger.

"You could have been famous, that Superman isn't the only one who can run faster than a speeding bullet," the vender chuckled to himself at his quip, "As I remember it you were pretty fast back in the day."

The man was crazy, Clark decided.

* * *

At the sound of the doorbell Clark pulled himself away from his resting place against the doorjam into the family room, where he had been watching Chloe and his parents interact with their friends and family. This was what he had been waiting for all day, the Luthers, he heard their voices get closer and closer as they drove down the driveway and he could hardly contain his curiosity as they had walked up the steps, "The party can officially begin, the Luthers are here," he called as he opened the door to his girlfriend and semi-enemy, as per Chloe's 'don't give yourself away in a jealous rage' instructions. He knew it had to be hard for her to consider his feelings towards Lana but when he had called her on it she just shrugged and smiled up at him, gesturing to the children they were putting to bed at the time asleep in their cots, "My husband loves his children more than life itself, and me more than anything in the universe – his home world included. I have no reason to be jealous Clark, even if you haven't yet figured it out, we can't live without each other and if I have to deal with a Clark from the past – well _kinda_ from the past, before I can get back to the life we have built then that's ok too. No matter what time your from, or what planet your from, I trust my husband," at that she leaned up and kissed him softly on the cheek leaning her forehead briefly against his chin before she pulled away, "I trust _you_ Clark."

"Merry Christmas Lana," he greeted her as he leant down to give her a swift hug – all the while Chloe's words ran through his brain 'I trust my husband, I trust _you_ Clark'.

"Merry Christmas Clark," she smiled back and leaned in for their hug. Clark could not suppress the shock at her beauty as she pulled away from him, but instead focused on her bulging belly, realising he wished he had seen Chloe like this – pregnant, with his children.

"Lex," he smiled and held out his hand, much like he would to Pete if he was still alive. As that was how he was getting himself through this awkward situation, Lana was Chloe, Lex was Pete and they were both his best friends. "Merry Christmas," he grinned pulling him in for a hug.

"Hey," Lex chuckled back obviously excited about the evening ahead of him, "Merry Christmas".

Smiling Clark closed the door behind them and followed them into the living room. As Lex and Lana made their way through the room greeting friends Clark couldn't help but watch their happiness radiate from them, he could practically see how in love they were. Searching out Chloe amongst the throng, he felt his body relax when their eyes met and she winked at him. Clark had been surprisingly happy to learn that they weren't a clingy or sickly couple that had to be around each other all the time. In fact they were the opposite, happy to search each other out from across the room with their eyes and share a secret smile, or even stand beside each other holding hands slyly as they each held conversations with different people. As Clark heard his father call out to Lex, he thought it was safe to check on what was going on in the rest of the house. He listened in on a few conversations, grinning at the little snippets of gossip about the people he knew, "Who'd have thought that Lois Lane, took holidays? I thought she'd be at the planet all week but apparently some billionaire whisked her off a few hours ago to some exotic island." "I saw Pete Ross in town last week when he was visiting the Kents, that fancy car he's driving was a prize from the last NASCAR circuit he won. His boss just likes to give that stuff away to his top driver ha?" Clark chuckled at this news; Chloe had told him all about Pete's run of success driving race cars and he couldn't be more proud. "Baby number two, I'm so happy for them the Luther's deserve the greatest of happiness," one old couple were saying to another, "Doesn't Chloe look beautiful this evening," the other couple replied – with which Clark whole heartedly agreed, "I'm glad those two finally got it together what with-"

Clark nearly put a fist through the coffee table in frustration, when the old woman's words were cut off by his father calling the room to attention.

"Now uh," Jonathon Kent began clearing his throat, "Ladies and Gentlemen I have an announcement to make," having been briefed on Lex's achievements earlier in the day Clark was happy to assume the proud best friend role as everyone's gaze swung to his father and Lex, catching Chloe's eye he winked, and turned to his father as he continued. "I have it on good authority that this years candidate for the humanitarian award is going to be given to our very own Lex Luther," he finished raising his glass as the crowd called out their encouragement and praise. Clark watched Lana give Lex a loving, proud smile, "Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Lex Luther, the finest man I know."

The crowd called out their cheers and Clark joined in as he was so pleased his friend had grown so much and so far into the man Clark always thought he could be, and Lex humbly hung his head suddenly shy in this extravagant praise from one of the two men he had always wanted this praise from. As the praise congratulations wound down Lex slowly made his way through the crowd shaking hands and humbly giving credit to others, moving towards the back door of the house and finally onto the back porch. Clark was amazed at this change, this man who stood before mutual family and friends as a selfless, poor and yet happy man, Clark was glad his instincts about Lex had been right.

He was compelled to follow Lex out of the room but first felt a natural urge to check on his sleeping children upstairs before doing anymore socialising this evening. Taking the stairs two at a time, Clark slowed down when he realised there were people standing at the entrance of the room his children were sleeping in. Standing quietly against the door jam Lana was watching happily as Chloe, who was further into the room, gently pulled her daughters thumb out of her mouth and placed the dummy back in, "They're beautiful Chloe, you did good."

Chloe grinned and softly kissing her son on the forehead before she turned to stroll back to Lana leaning against the opposite doorjam and smiling at her friend as she kept on ever watchful eye on her children not noticing Clark step in to the shadows to listen shamelessly to the two women in his life talk. "How could they not be with a father like Clark?" she grinned.

"It's true, the gene pool really worked in your favour," Lana laughed back softly as she placed her hand on her stomach rubbing gently.

Chloe shrugged and fondly observed her son roll over in bed and settle himself into a ball, "I don't know what I would do without them," she sighed, "I couldn't imagine things being different, me not ending up with Clark, these two beautiful lives not being created."

Lana's eyes widened in surprise as she turned to look her friend in the eye, "Where's this coming from?" she asked softly concerned.

Chloe shrugged not quite hiding a sadness that briefly flitted through her eyes, "Nowhere, just feeling sentimental I guess."

Raising a dark eyebrow Lana watched her friend closely then touched her hand softly in reassurance, "If it helps any, I was there your whole lives and there was no way this was going to turn out any different," as Chloe began to scoff Lana shot her a look and Chloe smiled instead. "Sure Clark and I loved each other, deeply, disarmingly all comsumingl-"

"Hey!" Chloe objected chuckling softly as her friend grinned.

"But no matter how close we were or in love we were, if you called he would drop everything for you. He knew when you were near, or were in trouble and when you two fought, well, let's just say not only did I try to stay out of firing range, but it tore him up not talking to you or being around you. Hell Chlo, he would forgive you _anything_. You two were meant to be, you _are_ meant to be," Lana finished smiling.

"I'm glad you're so sure, it was touch and go there for a while about you two if I remember correctly, I was so sure that you two were the great love story of our fair little town," she chuckled as she remembered, "Remember how he couldn't get within five feet of you without doing something incredibly embarrassing? Whitney would have squashed him like a bug if you hadn't stood up for him all the time."

Lana chuckled in response but shrugged, "I was the girl up on the pedestal, and how could I have a lasting relationship with a guy who thought I could do no wrong?"

"He knew you could do wrong, he was just really good at justifying it away until it didn't matter anymore," Chloe grinned knowingly. "But I could do wrong, I could definitely make mistakes and get in trouble, and he had a much harder time justifying my actions away."

"Which made you real," she answered simply, "Your relationship was based on trust, and love and growing and learning, he could defend you, and fight with you and get angry with you. With me…well…I was an enigma to live up to. Gosh it even makes me tired remembering how much we loved each other and yet were doomed to fail."

"You had him on a pedestal too Lana," Chloe couldn't help herself, defending Clark was an instinct not to be denied that was developed years ago.

"I was jealous of you the whole time," Lana admitted quietly turning her green eyes to gaze into Chloe's trying to convey her sincerity, "You had a part of him, knew more of him than I ever did, and he _choose_ to share it with you. Soulmate is the word that comes to mind," she finished on a grin.

"Ok, ok," Chloe finally succumbed happily and not very gracefully to Lana's musings, "You're right there is no way this could be any different. He loves me heaps, and I got to admit I like the guy a little, I even thought of buying him for fifty cents today, but the tree vender offered him for a dollar."

Covering her mouth with her hand Lana suppressed the laugh waiting to burst forth, "But I'm not jealous anymore, because I would _much_ rather have Lex and Alex anyday, and baby makes four," she smiled patting her protruding stomach calmly. "Now what's truly going on?"

Chloe sighed and nodded her head, "You're right I know, I'm being silly just got nostaligic for the couple dramas of our teen years I guess," suddenly a frown marred her face and her gaze flickered to the shadows at the end of the hall.

"Mama," a small voice called from inside the room, and her gaze on the shadows was broken, but she could have sworn a tux clad blur buzzed past when she looked towards her son who was rubbing his eyes and looking up at her in loving exhaustion, "Can I go down to the party Mama?" he asked beseechingly not quite managing to suppress the yawn that came two seconds after.

Chloe shook her head down at her son, "You're tired," she explained to him slowly, "Go back to sleep baby."

Young Jonathon pouted and glared at his Mother, "But I want to see Daddy," he pleaded.

Seeing exactly where this was headed like she could get premonitions, Chloe considered her options carefully. Rather than have a tantrum that would shook the citizens of Smallville to the core, Chloe decided the safest option was probably to take her son downstairs and let him see what was going on. He was so tired he would probably only last about ten minutes down there anyway, what was the harm?

Grinning over at Lana who rolled her eyes Chloe reached down to pick up her son and cradle his tired form against her petite body, "I can't wait to be that skinny again," Lana sighed wistfully.

Chloe grinned and looked down at herself as her son snuggled into her and she followed her pregnant friend downstairs, "I hear you," Chloe laughed, "after Lara was born I was so glad to finally have my body back."

At the bottom of the stairs Lana turned to look up at Chloe and guide her down the last couple of steps noting it was hard to see manoeuvring a barely awake child down the stairs, "Oh but holding this baby in my arms," she grinned and did a little twirl.

* * *

Clark opened the back door quietly observing Lex leaning against the balcony. He seemed to be talking to himself and Clark found that he liked this human quality that he had never before observed with Lex, "Lex," he called as he strolled forward. "Who're you talking to?" he greeted chuckling.

"No-one," Lex answered looking behind him and back over at Clark, "Or possibly myself," he added, laughing quietly to himself. "I don't know anymore," he finished placing both hands on the porch railing and looking out into the night "I guess I'm just very contemplative this evening."

"Yeah well the holidays will do that to you," Clark answered raising his glass to Lex, his eyes twinkling with quiet understanding.

"You know my life hasn't turned out at all the way I planned, and yet I have never been happier."

"Lex you have a wonderful life," Clark stated, thinking about Lana upstairs patting her belly and talking about Lex and Alex, "and _every_ reason to be happy. A beautiful wife, great son, a baby on the way," Clark encouraged.

"Something I still can't quite believe," Lex answered (and Clark quickly held back the 'me neither' that threatened to escape). "Me and Lana," he scoffed gently, "how the hell did that happen?"

Clark grinned and laughed a little at this statement, he didn't know, but he suspected, "Well, you became the kind of man she could love."

"You mean the kind of man you've always been?"

Clark frowned at Lex slightly confused at where this conversation was coming from, was it not strange for the husband to be telling the ex-boyfriend that he thought Clark was the man that Lana loved, "And Lex you offered her something I didn't" he continued regaining his thoughts.

"What held you back Clark?" Lex asked kindly but unable to suppress his curiosity, "I mean I know you love her – loved her," he corrected and Clark smiled to cover up his slight unease with the direction his conversation was heading.

"I don't know, I guess I just wasn't ready Lex," Clark shrugged, wondering whether he really would ever be ready to let Lana know the whole truth about him. "Maybe I never will be," he added wonderingly to himself understanding ever more the reason behind the new love in his life. "But I am glad than you and Lana ended up together and we were able to remain such good friends," he added realising the truth in these words the moment they were spoken. They gently grasped each other s shoulders in a male show of affection and smiled out into the night, Clark was extremely glad he got to have this talk with Lex if for no other reason than he hadn't had a chat like that with his old best friend in so long, that he realised now that it was missing in his life.

"Thank you."

"Lex" Martha Kent called rushing out onto the porch. "Come quickly its Lana."

* * *

Watch think????????


	9. Chapter 9

Hey there happy campers, I realise this has been a loooooooong time coming and I do mean LLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG. And I apologise for my false promises and empty claims of updates. Sadly the chlark train has no stops in any Smallville reality at the moment (at least not in New Zealand) so I've been feeling a little (maybe a lot) pissed off at all Smallville avenues - unfortunately this means my awesome Clarkmas story has gone unwritten for a while.

But I'm back! And I make no promises this time, I shall update when I update. It may be today, or tomorrow or next week or next month…(you get the gist?) but it WILL I repeat WILL get completed sooner or later!

I love you guys for hanging in there and appreciate any and all feedback (even if its to tell me off for my less than stellar update situation). I've said it before and I'll say it again I love reviews.

NB this is NOT the final chapter, it does finish on an interesting note but there's at least one more to go I think (unless anyone out there reeeeeelllllliiiii wants me to carry on and can tell me how they think I should) but wait until the last chapter is up as I may find a way to answer the questions you wish answered in that chapter.

Much love guys xxx

Emolee

At that moment Clark marvelled how just four words could have such an affect on ones nervous system. Suppressing his nearly overwhelming instinct to burst into super speed and be at her side Clark's hands shook (more like vibrated to be honest), as he rushed - at a normal persons pace - as much as it pained him, _behind_ Lex. Rushing into the room three things struck him at once, the first was Lana, _his_ Lana, on the floor writhing in agony, the second was his son crying loudly clutching at Chloe for comfort while everyone gathered around Lana, and the third was the torn look in Chloe's eyes. It was obvious to him that she was torn between getting her son out of the room to comfort him, and going to the aid of one of her closest friends in the whole world.

Clark was struck with the realisation that for the first time in his whole life his usual instinct on seeing Lana in pain, or even knowing she was in danger – to save her, was his second instinct today. Surprising not only himself but Chloe in the process, he walked up to her, gently extracted his distraught son from her arms and cradled him against his own chest before pulling Chloe into his side and kissing her softly on the forehead as she leant her head against him sadly. They stood there together watching as Lex clutched at his wife, and the guests organised a car to take them urgently to the hospital, all knowing somehow, that the pains Lana was experiencing were not normal labour pains.

"What happened?" Clark whispered softly bringing Chloe in closer to his side, the closer she was to him, the more of her body pressed against his, the better he felt at that point – though he couldn't keep his eyes off Lana.

Grateful for the contact Chloe leant deeper into the groves of his body, of which Clark had always said over the years were made for her (of course when he had first mentioned it, it prompted her to pretend gag at him, but she had grown to love that too sweet comment), and whispered back "She… she had just t-taken Jonah from me so I could get a…drink and she collapsed."

At the answering gentle squeeze from her husband Chloe had to close her eyes to hold her control, however opening them and seeing Clark watch their son out of the corner of his eye in concern nearly increased the amount of silent tears that were falling softly down her face. Turning her head into Clarks chest to hide her face for a moment, Chloe worked at holding her composure in place and ran through a quick plan in her head as the car to take Lana and Lex to the hospital pulled around out front.

Lex kept glancing up at Clark, Chloe realising that he expected Clark to do something, to rush to the rescue, to save the day – and who could blame him? That was what Clark had done since they had met. But where Clark was aware that he should be doing something, he was one of the few people in the room who hadn't yet grasped the seriousness of the situation, obviously Lana was in pain and he wanted to save her, however at the moment his son was upset and his wife was fighting hard for her composure. Chloe was in fact a large concern to him at that time as, for the lifetime that he had known her she was not prone to losing her composure and the fact that this situation was indeed worrying her was unnerving him. He however understood that short of going up there and yanking that baby out there was nothing he could do for Lana at this moment, though Lana's agony was tearing him apart.

Lana looked up at her two best friends and what she saw, even through her pain and random double vision (probably brought on by the pain she decided) that the two Clark's and Chloe's were definitely the most in love pairs she'd seen in a while, and if she could just get her gorgeous child to stop tearing her apart inside and her gorgeous husband to quit crowding her, her new child's birthday could possibly be salvaged. Gently Lex put his arms around his wife and pulled her into him as he sat cradling her in his arms she groaned in the pain of movement. She nudged him in the ribs and grinned up at him, "Watch it."

Lex's eyes widened and he gently pulled his arms away from her missing the teasing note in her voice and focusing on the pain he heard, Chloe noticed the way his hands shook as he wiped them on his thighs. He glanced up at her hoping she could give some direction, in answer to his intense, hopeful gaze Chloe moved forward out of Clark's arms and away from her frightened child, into the role of friend. She knelt down next to Lex and put her hand in Lana's speaking quietly to Lex in the process.

"Lex, I need you to-"

"Chlo I really need her to be ok," Lex interrupted vehemently.

"I understand Lex but-"

"I need her to be ok," he said again firmly with a hard edge to his voice, the Luther resolve beginning to fill him with purpose.

"Lex-"

He interrupted once more, this time causing Clark to frown in annoyance at the tone he took with his 'wife', "I'm not going to say it again."

Chloe smiled in reassurance at Clark before she spoke again, "I need to-"

"Chl-"

"Lex," Clark warned quietly from close behind as he moved forward not to be heard by the crowd gathered around Lana, "you speak to her in that tone of voice again and I will stop making allowances for your situation."

Lex looked behind him and up into Clark's hard but concerned eyes, and the Luther within backed down slightly, again looking to Chloe for instructions.

"Oh so one word from him and you're going to let me talk now?" Chloe narrowed her eyes, and continued talking over the top of Lex as he tried to apologise. "You won't mind if I interrupt you will you? That was rhetorical," she grinned. "Lex," she began again, "I need you to pick her up and gently carry her to the car. She's bleeding but it's nothing to worry about until we get her to the hospital."

Lex quickly looked down at his hands and realised what he thought was sweat he'd been wiping off onto his pants was actually Lana's blood.

Clark breathed in quickly shaking his head a little as his head got a bit fuzzy. Looking down into his sons eyes, who had looked up at his fathers uncharacteristic movements, Clark smiled reassuringly and rubbed Jonah's back a little. "Dad, why's Aunty Lana sleeping on the floor?" he whispered quietly into his fathers ear.

Swallowing hard Clark tried once more to shake off an uncomfortable feeling as he evaded the question "People don't sleep on the floor Jonah, you'd get a sore back!" he smiled.

Frowning Jonah found it hard to believe his Dad when he was acting so strangely but since his Dad never lied he decided to trust that Aunty Lana wasn't trying to sleep on the floor, "So why's she on the floor then?" he whispered again.

Something was wrong, Clark's head was getting fuzzy and he was feeling a little weak, the feeling was familiar to him however, like someone in the room was wearing a piece of jewellery with kryptonite in it – but stranger. Worried now that he was weakening with his son in his arms, Lana in danger and Chloe upset, he gently signalled to Chloe as she was busy ordering the people in the room to do various tasks, arranging to get Lana outside and in a car on her way to the hospital.

Extracting herself from the crowd at Clark's signal she left them to do what she asked and stepped into the relatively empty kitchen with Clark, at the look on his face Chloe's eyes turned concerned and she instinctively reached for her son. He had his 'something's wrong and I'm off to save the day' face on, which usually meant she was stuck with the kids until he needed research done. "Chloe I-"

"You know Clark I know you're acting all alien today – excuse the pun – but I really thought you would prioritize Lana over some-"

"Chlo something-"

"-has just come up, yeah yeah. You know what, Lana is sick Clark." She hugged her son tightly and rocked his sleepy body back and forth as Jonah struggled to stay awake, eyes slowly closing and reopening. "Really sick," she finished on a whisper.

"I know but-"

"But?" she interrupted again.

Instead of talking again he looked at her like he used to when she was acting irrationally, and waited for her to realise he wasn't going to talk again until she took a breath and calmed down.

Chloe would have missed it if she wasn't glaring at him so intensely, the slight tightening of his chin, the tautening of his lips, the hardening of his eyes. Her whole world suddenly flashed into focus, readjusting itself to the one person in the universe that was as important to her as her children, "What's wrong?" she demanded in a typically Chloe fashion.

"Nothing I'm just worried about Lan-"

"Don't give me that," Chloe's eyes narrowed in concern deflecting his evasion and stepping closer to him aware that her son has finally given in to sleep, and gently rubbed his back as she invaded her husbands personal space as she was prone to do when she was around him.

"My head," he admitted. "I'm feeling a little bit woozy."

"Woozy? Since when does the man of steel feel woozy?"

"Man of steel?"

"Oh never mind," Chloe dismissed the slip of the tongue and reached up to touch his forehead. "I wouldn't know if you were burning up anyway," Chloe murmured frowning, "does an alien even get a higher temperature when they're sick? You had a fever back in high school, do you think it's that again?"

Clark shrugged noticing everyone was moving out of the house as they escorted Lana to the car and on her way to the hospital. "Maybe we should go with her."

"I'll go, you put Jonah back to bed and check on Lara," Chloe touched his check softly looking into his eyes, "Woozy?" she asked again drawing him back to his problem. "Doesn't sound good boy scout."

Of it's own accord Clark realised his hand had moved to hold hers against his face, turning his cheek into her touch and kissing the palm of her hand. He found that even though he was distracted by Lana and his own weird afflictions, Chloe's eyes were mesmerising when they were looking at him with such love and concern, and not only that but the simple caring touch of her hand to his cheek made his heart swell with love and his body swell with, well, you get the picture. At that thought Clark's cheeks flushed bright red and he moved quickly away from her, one moment he was standing there responding to her touch and the next, he was on the other side of the bench in the kitchen looking embarrassed.

His actions so reminiscent of there teenage years, caused a surprised and delighted laugh to escape Chloe before she could control her reactions. Momentarily forgetting he technically still was of that mindset, she had inadvertently treated him like her husband instead of a friend. "Sorry Kent, I forgot," she grinned.

"No, uh, my…fault," he stammered again even more embarrassed by his reaction to his reaction than by anything else at that point.

"Clark?" Chloe prodded when he stood there staring at her and no saying anything.

"Oh, sorry," Clark answered, trying to ignore the way she was fading in as he watched her. "Here's what we're going to do. You go with Lana now, quickly, before they leave. I'll sort the kids out then leave them with Mum and Dad to come and meet you at the hospital."

"Deal," Chloe agreed, "Do you want me to take Jonah upstairs?" she asked aware that the 'woozyness' he was feeling may endanger her son.

Reading her thoughts Clark frowned, "I'll take him," he answered firmly.

"Ok," she said simply gently handing over their son, trusting him completely in his decision. As she turned to leave, kissing her son gently on the forehead to say goodnight, Clark grabbed her arm and swung her back around. Locking eyes with her the whole time he bent his head down slowly toward hers moving his hand from her arm to the small of her back as he pressed her closer towards him. Their eyes cloase as his lips touched hers gently at first, sweetly, then deepening as he moved her up against him their child cradled between them. Pulling away slowly he looked into her eyes again, saying everything he possibly could with no words, then almost fiercely smashing his lips to hers for a fleeting moment he nudged her in the direction of the door as he heard the ambulance doors closing behind Lana outside. A little bit dazed (Clark noted with a _great_ deal of satisfaction) Chloe rushed to the door looking back once with a knowing look in her eye, waving goodbye.

Turning to walk up the stairs with Jonah a small smile played on Clark's lips, that was some goodbye kiss…he grinned glad she had realised that that would be their last as husband and wife, at least in this reality…


End file.
